Multiverse: Why does the world show a health bar? !

 Frenda Seivelun, having spent several years navigating the dark side of Academy City, believed she had seen it all. Was there anything rarer than the things those scientists cooked up?

She could proudly declare, "There's nothing I don't know about."

But what she had just heard left her utterly confused.

Magic? What was that? Some kind of trick? But from the way they were talking, it didn't sound like a mere trick!

This was something she had never encountered before.

Frenda had been in a state of disbelief.

"Don't kill me! Life is such a precious thing…"

How had things come to this?

Weren't you just having a normal conversation with that girl and the big dog?

Or was it… magic or something?

"Where did that boldness of throwing bombs at me go?"

"Hehe…" Frenda stuck out her tongue playfully, responding with a cute expression.

She looked like a mischievous little sister caught red-handed by her older brother.

Then, Li Mo tapped her on the head.

"Alright, let's get back on track. As you've gathered, I'm not planning to do anything to you. But little girl, what's your value? If you think throwing bombs is your value, that's just child's play."

Earlier, the doll bombs had been neutralized by Li Mo's "Solo Run" spell. After all, according to its original creator, this spell could withstand a nuclear explosion. Considering the spell's structure, there was some truth to that claim.

Blocking a bomb was more than enough. These doll bombs weren't fragmentation grenades; their explosions could simply be nullified.

A spell he had repurposed as a form of "vector control"…

But it required his active activation, far from the passive defense of someone like Accelerator.

Li Mo looked at Frenda.

This member of 「Item」 had already exited the stage during the Old Testament arc. By the timeline, it should be around today. If she hadn't run into him, she would have become Frenda (dead). But in the New Testament arc, her sister and friends had their moments.

He only remembered her sister being chosen as the center of an experiment—the "princess" to be saved by the hero, the one to be protected.

"What… what are you looking at?"

"Nothing, just thinking about some things. Where do you think your value lies? Can you tell me?"

"Connections! My value lies in my connections." Frenda, who was often teased by her teammates for being unreliable, quickly came up with an answer.

Given that her combat abilities were insignificant in the eyes of this man, and that he was an illegal infiltrator in this city, what she needed to do was report his whereabouts and have the entire city hunt him down, right?

—Not a chance. It was normal for intruders to appear in Academy City. As long as it wasn't something like the "silent battle" from a week ago, who would care?

Her value lay in information!

He had some knowledge of Academy City, but that was it. Did he know the fastest way to move between districts? Did he know which corners lacked surveillance cameras?

That was the kind of geographical knowledge she had.

Then there were her connections.

Frenda Seivelun was a girl with a wide social network. Whether on the surface or in the shadows, she had friends and acquaintances numbering in the thousands. Yes, thousands—four digits.

Three hundred and sixty-five days a year. If she made one new friend or acquaintance every day, it would take three to four years. But Frenda was just that kind of girl with extensive connections.

"Familiarity with the terrain and connections, huh?"

Li Mo stroked his chin, looking at the girl's pleading eyes, and said, "What's your name?"

"Frenda Seivelun."

"Alright, then I'll temporarily hire you…"

Before he could finish, Li Mo's gaze shifted away from Frenda.

He looked toward the entrance of the alley.

"Wow, such sharp senses? Hello there, esper from beyond the walls."

"Dark Matter?"

Standing there was a brown-haired boy with a smug, somewhat hypocritical smile on his face.

Kakine Teitoku, hands in his pockets, said, "Since you know my name, that makes things easier. Could you hand over that little girl next to you? The Fourth Rank's words really pissed me off earlier. If it weren't for the precious equipment at the research institute, I would've taken action there. Anyway, I want information on the Fourth Rank to teach her a lesson.

Oh, and there's also that tracking esper by her side, right? Annoying."

Without waiting for Li Mo's response, the boy took his hands out of his pockets and spread his arms wide. "See? I've explained so much. Shouldn't you just hand her over to me?"

"Are you… threatening me?" Li Mo narrowed his eyes.

"Ah, are you looking for a price? Adults are always so mercenary. If I were in a better mood, I wouldn't mind giving you a satisfactory number. Unfortunately, after dealing with the Fourth Rank, I ran into some old guy called 'Doctor.' Though he's insignificant, people like that really annoy me."

Kakine Teitoku touched his neck and said, "I don't like targeting unrelated people. If you're willing to hand over the girl behind you, I might let you go.

…

?"

Kakine Teitoku paused, then his expression turned complicated.

Dark Matter particles swept toward the two, but they vanished like a mirage.

"A teleporter? No, it's an optical distortion leaving behind an afterimage. Damn it. Am I being looked down on?"

Kakine Teitoku was getting angry.

His pure white wings spread out behind him.

Like an angel on land, he began tracking the direction of the two.

For the dark side, gathering information was an easy task.

On the other side.

Just like before, Li Mo carried Frenda as he moved across the rooftops of Academy City.

The girl named Frenda witnessed the terrifying physical prowess of the young man beside her, effortlessly scaling walls to reach the rooftops and then taking flight in the sky.

—It was flight, not gliding.

"My little trick was discovered. And he's catching up? Does it have to be this intense? Frenda, remember this."

"Remember what?"

"Remember that you're now hired by me. She'll always be watching you."

Then, Li Mo let go mid-air.

A spell was simultaneously cast on Frenda. Perhaps due to the hastily prepared magic, or maybe because of the differences between worlds, the spell would likely activate just before Frenda landed.

A shikigami was also sent out to monitor the situation.

And then…

Li Mo looked at the birdman charging toward him.

"Rank 2, huh? I might not be able to kill you, but I can definitely annoy you."

The magician from another world said so.